Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma ½. Ranma ½ belongs to Rumiko Takahashi. This story is written for amusement and is completely nonprofit.
-------------------------------------------
Chapter 1: The Sword in the Bones
As Akane walked home alone from school that day, she was fuming. She had had so much trouble today and needed someone to talk to, and Ranma was off in the middle of some fight with Ryouga. With all that had happened today she wasn't going to sit and wait for them to finish their pointless scuffling!
"Akane Tendo! Defeat me and I shall allow you the honor of--" Tatewaki Kuno seized his chance. Ranma wasn't there! He began his usual monologue, rushing forward with his wooden bokken, but was silenced when the girl in question silenced his speech with a single powerful kick to the face.
"Kuno, I don't want to kill you, but so help me, if you don't get away from me now, I will," said Akane through clenched teeth with murder in her voice. Normally she wouldn't have dignified the painfully stupid upperclassman's advance with a response and would have just kept walking to spare him, but this time was different.
This time Kuno had picked to come on to Akane Tendo when she was having a BAD day.
Kuno, however, apparently too stupid to see the change in her behavior, picked himself up from the ground.
"Ah, Akane! Your love for me has created so deep a fire in you that you are willing to kill to obtain it…" he said, holding his bokken out triumphantly. At this Akane stepped forward and in the blink of an eye brought her knee up and snapped the wooden sword in half. Kuno grinned. "So you have accepted my challenge?" he said. Kuno's world immediately went black as Akane punched him in the face with more force than any attack he had ever felt.
-------------------------------------------
When Kuno woke up it was to discover that it was nighttime. He managed to pull himself up and stared at the broken wooden bokken on the ground. He snorted. Well, he could just take another one from the supply closet. No one was going to say anything if another one mysteriously went missing. After all, he was Tatewaki Kuno. He could afford to buy people off if they tried anything. Kuno laughed in triumph. Akane had defeated him! That meant she would go on a date with him. Kuno stood to his full height and with an air that screamed "I'm rich and you're not", he began to walk home, a narcissistic spring in his step.
It took Kuno about an hour of walking in the wrong direction to realize that perhaps he had taken a wrong turn.
As he looked around him, nothing seemed familiar. The houses had begun to turn decrepit and old as though nobody had lived in them for generations and, as he progressed, had all but vanished. The air tasted of death and despair, and Kuno began to feel a strange feeling well up inside of him…
He shook his head vigorously, pulling himself back together. Ha! It wasn't anything that he, Tatewaki Kuno, couldn't deal with. If anything jumped out at him he would fell it with a single blow.
It was at that moment that Kuno heard an unsettling sound that made him rethink his confidence.
"Intruder…turn back…you do not know what awaits you…" came a strange voice. Kuno looked around. What was speaking? He didn't see anyone nearby. Kuno felt something he hadn't felt in a long time, mainly due to his irrational sense of bravado—fear. Sure, he was an undeniably good swordsman, but a good swordsman without a sword is about as good as a good chef with no food to prepare. He turned his head around frantically, and there, as if answering his plea, was the skeleton of a human body with a sword lodged in its ribcage. Most people would have been frozen with terror at seeing this dead body, but Kuno's natural tendency to see only what he wanted to see sort of eliminated the skeleton from his mind as he raced forward and plucked the sword from the body. Kuno looked down at the sword, which was now glowing a green light. It was not made in traditional Chinese or Japanese style; rather, it looked as though it was European-made. The hilt, made of what felt like silver, had one gleaming sapphire at the bottom of it. The cross was made of gold, and the blade looked as though it was made of steel, though even Kuno, after seeing what he saw next, could deduce that it was no normal sword.
"My gratitude is endless, young one…" said a different voice than the one he had heard before. Kuno whirled round on his heel and saw a tall and beautiful woman hovering just above the ground. Her hair was completely white and she was wearing a long white robe. In fact, her entire appearance was incredibly pale, almost to the point of being transparent. Kuno blinked at her, his mouth wide open. She was gorgeous.
'What a dazzling vision of loveliness…' he said to himself. The woman gave a strange laugh in response to this as though she had read his thoughts, a wicked laugh that echoed in a way that made it so even Kuno, the most unobservant man in the world, was able to come out of the trance of his first impression.
"Allow me to explain my situation, Tatewaki Kuno…my name is known among mortals as Vennia. I was once a goddess until evildoers sealed me away in the very sword you hold in your hand…you are the first that has been brave enough to move past the charms of the sword, and by removing it from the skeleton in the ground you have freed me, and I am prepared to make your wildest dreams come true…" she said, her pale lavender eyes glinting eerily.
"H-how do you know my name?" stuttered Kuno, feeling genuine fear once again. Something about this woman was unearthly, unsettling…and it scared him. Kuno winced as she laughed her terrible cruel laugh once again.
"I know all, Tatewaki Kuno…I know all. I have searched your soul and see what lies inside…the wish for power, and…perhaps…desire for the woman you love?"
Kuno's wariness immediately left him as he heard these words. "The woman I love? Power?" he said, mainly to himself. His thoughts were interrupted as Vennia cackled once again.
"You know deep down in your very soul that you cannot have her, and yet you do not wish to accept it, and so you fight it. You constantly give birth to ridiculous schemes to obtain her and fool yourself into believing that she loves you back…but she does not. But what you wish for, Kuno….I can grant you that, young one, I can grant you that…Are you willing to carry the burden of power on your shoulders without fear?" she said, her eyes glinting once again. However, this time their gaze seemed endless. Kuno stared into them…he could have stared for hours and hours, it seemed, they were so…hypnotic…at the mention of the word 'hypnotic' in his brain, Kuno shook his head vigorously and stepped back, readying himself with the sword.
"Aaah! Foul sorceress! You are trying to tempt me! For what reason I am unsure but--" he began, closing his eyes to avoid watching the terrible purple eyes, and yet even in his mind they were still there.
"You are inches away from owning everything in the world, Tatewaki Kuno…all you have to do is tell me you that you desire it and it is yours," she said. Kuno tried as hard as he could, but he could not control it.
"I do desire it," he found himself saying. Vennia smiled, her eyes glinting once again.
"Then so be it," she said, raising her hand.
And with that the world began to change.
-------------------------------------------
That's all I have so far, but more to come. I may edit this chapter later to be a little…well…better. Anyway, stay tuned for Chapter 2 (ought to come sometime tomorrow) in which it'll get better and less choppy and rushed, I promise. Anyway, yeah. There's Chapter 1. Hope you enjoyed, even considering the apparent mediocrity of its current state.
